Why wouldn't we leave the crop residue on the surface instead of destroying it with fall tillage? Why not seed cereal rye aerially into our maturing corn and soybeans in late summer, giving us something green and growing nine months of the year?

The answer is quite simple - the belief corn and soybeans cannot be successfully raised without fall tillage. This, of course, is patently untrue. How to convince a dedicated tillage addict to change is more complex.

You may dismiss the testimony of dedicated no-tillers like myself as self-serving pap. Farmers are staring at the prospect of having fertilizer applications severely limited by the Environmental Protection Agency because the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico is perceived to be caused by the over-application of nitrogen and phosphorous by Midwest farmers. The truth, of course, is that fall tillage allows erosion to send nitrogen and phosphorous down the river.

The good news is that no-till will solve the problem.

- Jerry Crew, Webb

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Letter to the Editor: No-till will greatly solve farm runoff issues

As farmers, we till, plant, fertilize, kill things (weeds, pests and diseases), harvest, till some more, become snow-birds and start the whole process again. This process allows Mother Nature five